Ex-Lionhead devs crowdfunding a Fable digial card game

A new studio founded by former Lionhead employees is trying to finish one of the Fable developer’s unfinished projects.

Fable Fortune was in the works for 18 months before Lionhead was closed this April. The title was a digital card game similar to Hearthstone, but with a few twists the team hoped would “[improve] the genre”.

Now IGN reports that Flaming Fowl Studios will bring the project to Kickstarter in the hopes that Fable Fortune will finally see the light of day. Flaming Fowl has been set up by Lionhead veterans Mike West, Craig Oman and Marcus Lynn.

Microsoft has reportedly given the team permission to continue using the Fable licence – a surprising move given that Microsoft has previously turned down offers for Lionhead because it wanted to hold on to the IP.

The game is also being co-developed by London-based studio Mediatonic, but does not yet have publisher behind it.

The Kickstarter campaign begins today, aiming to raise $250,000. Fable Fortune is planned for an early 2017 release on PC and Xbox One, with a beta this October.

West originally pitched the premise as something that could be included Fable II. A team of 20 created the core design, before frantically working on a playable prototype ahead of Lionhead’s closure.

In April, one of the UK’s most iconic developers closed its doors for the last time. After almost 20 years and the creation of beloved series including Fable, Black & White and The Movies, Lionhead was no more. Four months on, we catch up with some of the studio's ex-employees